Breadcrumb

White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health (White House Central Files: Staff Member and Office Files)

Date Start

1969

Date End

1971

Abstract

The Presidential historical materials of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health are in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration under the provisions of Title I of the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act of 1974 (44 U.S.C. 2111 note) and implementing regulations. In accordance with the act and regulations, archivists reviewed the file group to identify personal and private materials (including materials outside the date span covered by the act) as well as nonhistorical items. These materials have been returned to the individual who has primary proprietary interest.

Linear feet of materials: 25.67

Approximate number of pages: 77,000

Provenance

The collection was sent to the National Archives and Records Service for storage by the White House Central Files on December 18, 1974. It remained unprocessed and closed to the public until it was processed in November and December 2009. The collection was made available to the public on January 11, 2010.

Processing Note

The collection was processed in November-December 2009 by Archivist Ellen Knight and student assistant Megan Dwyre. Nixon Presidential textual materials are processed in accordance with the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act (PRMPA) and its implementing regulations. Some of the Nixon Presidential Textual Materials have been withdrawn from the files that are available to the public in accordance with the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act of 1974 (PRMPA), its implementing regulations, and Executive Order 12958, as amended. A Document Withdrawal Record (NA Form 1421) at the front of a file folder indicates that a document has been withdrawn from the file by the National Archives and Records Administration. Duplicate copies of publications have been removed from the collection. A complete list of duplicate publications that were removed is available in the processing file for the collection.

Scope and Content Note

The White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health was convened at the behest of President Richard M. Nixon to focus national attention on the nutritional needs and problems of all Americans. This first White House conference of the Nixon administration was designed to advise the President on how best to end hunger and malnutrition among the poor in the United States. The goal of the conference was to lay a foundation for a national nutrition policy.

The records of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health date from 1969-1971 and include pre-conference, conference and post-conference material. The collection is divided into four series: Subject Files, Conference Working Files, Staff Member Office Files and Printed Materials. The bulk of the collection is arranged by subject, which is then further segmented chronologically.

The conference was directed and organized by Dr. Jean Mayer, Special Consultant to the President, and was held on December 2, 3 and 4, 1969 at the Sheraton-Park Hotel in Washington, DC. Prior to December, a series of meetings and workshops in preparation for the conference were scheduled in cities across the country. President Nixon outlined five questions for consideration by conference participants:

How do we ensure a continuing surveillance of the nutritional health of the American people?

What should be done to improve the nutrition of the more vulnerable groups of Americans-the very poor, pregnant and nursing mothers, children and adolescents, adults prone to heart disease, the aging and those groups (such as Indians, Eskimos and migrant workers) for whom the federal government has a special responsibility?

As we develop new technologies of food production, processing and packaging, how do we monitor the wholesomeness and nutritional value of our foods? And how do we make certain that the poor, and in fact all Americans, get the greatest amount of nutrients for their money?

How do we improve nutrition teaching in our schools-from Head Start to medical schools? And what programs of popular education are needed to better inform Americans, the poor and affluent alike, of proper food buying and food consumption habits?

What should be done to improve federal programs that affect nutrition-either directly as in the Armed Forces and the Veterans Administration or indirectly through such programs as the food stamp, commodity distribution and school lunch programs?

Conference participants included educators, scientists, medical and health professionals, representatives of agriculture and the food industry, federal, state and local government officials, religious denominations, women's and professional organizations and spokesmen for consumer and social-action groups, including the poor.
Actual work for the conference began in the summer of 1969 when 26 advisory panels were organized with 475 of the conference participants. The function of the panels was to draft sets of preliminary recommendations. Another eight community-action task forces, using an additional 300 participants, reviewed the panel recommendations and made their own observations. The actual conference in December yielded over 2,500 participants organized into 20 working sessions that met simultaneously. The conclusions of the conference were to be translated into a plan of action to be implemented by the administration. Panel and task force recommendations are included in these sections: (1) Surveillance and Evaluation of the State of Nutrition of the American People, (2) Establishing Guidelines for the Nutrition of Vulnerable Groups with Special Reference to the Poor, (3) The Provision of Food as It Affects the Consumer: Guidelines for Federal Action, (4) Nutrition Teaching and Nutrition Education, (5) Food Delivery and Distribution as a System, and (6) Voluntary Action to Help the Poor.

Persons of note in the collection associated with the Nixon Administration include Jean Mayer, Special Consultant to the President; Kenneth E. BeLieu, Deputy Assistant to the President; William E. Casselman, Deputy Special Assistant to the President; William E. Timmons, Deputy Assistant to the President; Virginia Knauer, Special Assistant to the President for Consumer Affairs; Donald Baldwin, Special Assistant for Congressional Relations; John Edwards, Director, Information and Education; James D. Grant, Deputy to Jean Mayer, Special Consultant to the President; Judith Cooke, Staff Assistant; Christopher DeMuth, Staff Assistant to the President; Mary McCausland, Secretary to Jean Mayer; Benjamin Neufeld, Conference Liaison Staff; Clifton G. Metzner, Administrative Officer; Howard Zimmerman, Staff Assistant; Elizabeth Woodlock, Staff Assistant; and John R. Price, Special Assistant to the President for Urban Affairs and Executive Secretary to the Council on Urban Affairs. Additional materials related to the conference are located in the White House Central Files, Staff Member and Office Files of John R. Price.

Series Description

Boxes: 1-25Series: Subject FilesSpans: 1969-1971Description: Subject Files were maintained by a file plan produced by the National Archives and Records Service prior to the start of the conference in 1969. The subject categories in this series include Administration (ADM), Conference, Committees and Councils (CCC), Education (ED), Food (FD), Health (HE), Meetings (ME), Nutrition and Diet (ND), Public Relations (PR), and Systems of Food Delivery (SYS). The bulk of the series includes correspondence from Mayer and staff to panel participants and interested industry persons soliciting nominations for conference participants. Congressional letters and those of concerned citizens make up a smaller segment of correspondence. Copies of press releases about the conference and some administrative information are also included.

Boxes: 26-41Series: Conference Working FilesSpans: 1969-1971Description: Conference Working Files contain the reports, draft recommendations, formal recommendations, meeting minutes and correspondence related to the workings of the panels and task forces of the conference. The bulk of the conference's records on food, nutrition and health issues used to draft policy and recommendations for the Nixon Administration are found in the series. Fact sheets, panel assignments and conference agenda drafts begin the series in boxes 26 and 27. Official reports of the proceedings of each panel, including transcripts of many discussions by panel participants, are included in boxes 31-34. Boxes 35- 37 contain memoranda about conference operations and agenda, as well as correspondence with Ben Neufeld, Judith Cooke, Stanley Flower, Barbara Lynch, and John Edwards, arranged chronologically by month. Following this correspondence are post-conference working committee files which include correspondence and after-action reports from panel participants as well as the Department sof Agriculture, Defense, Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Ad Council. The final panel recommendation report is divided by section in boxes 40 and 41.

Boxes: 42-67Series: Staff Member Office FilesSpans: 1969-1971Description: Staff Member Office Files contain the files of Judith Cooke, Staff Assistant; John Edwards, Director, Information and Education; and Elizabeth Woodlock, Staff Assistant, as well as some general correspondence and administrative files. The bulk of the Judith Cooke files contain correspondence with panel participants, consumer organizations and concerned citizens, governors and congressional members. Much of the correspondence is administrative in nature, relating to such subjects as logistics and travel, security, and contact information for conference participants. Of note are a biographical sketch and resume of Jean Mayer, as are food company annual reports from Kellogg, Nabisco, Purina and others, draft speeches, and press releases. The John Edwards files include administrative information primarily focused on the activities of the press. Included is correspondence requesting and granting press access to the conference, as well as instructions to press members. The bulk of the Elizabeth Woodlock files contains contact information for panel participants and is administrative in nature. Some correspondence is included, as are oversized panel attendance lists for the conference. Other boxes containing administrative information are also found in the series. These files include travel and appointment information, as well as personnel files arranged alphabetically to include resumes, employment applications and a rolodex containing contact information for persons associated with the conference.

Boxes: 68-75Series: Printed MaterialsSpans: 1969-1970Description: Printed Materials contain newspaper clippings and publications. The newspaper clippings (1969-1970) come from a variety of newspapers and are arranged chronologically by month. Subjects of the articles include the Nixon Administration and the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health and other topics that pertain to the conference. The publications (1969-1970) include printed copies of the final report to the President from the conference, panel recommendations, as well as other related publications maintained in the Central Files.

(CCC) 1-1 Recommendations or Nominations for Positions on Panels August 14 to September 1 [1969]
(CCC) 1-1 Recommendations or Nominations for Positions on Panels August 25 to August 15 [1969]
(CCC) 1-1 Recommendations or Nominations to serve on Positions on Panels July through June [1969] [1 of 2]
(CCC) 1-1 Recommendations or Nominations to serve on Positions on Panels July through June [1969] [2 of 2]
(CCC) 1-1 Recommendations or Nominations to serve on Positions on Panels September 18 to 9 [1969]
Commendation Letters from Various Peoples and Organizations on White House Food, Nutrition and Health [1969-1970]
Food, Nutrition, and Health Inc. (Payments) [1969-1970]
[CCC]

Miscellaneous Follow-up Files [1969-1970]
Recommendations of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health
1. Organization and Reorganization [ca.1970]
Recommendations of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health
2. Federal Assistance Programs [ca. 1970]
Recommendations of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health
3. Surveillance and Monitoring [ca. 1970]
Recommendations of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health
4. Nutrition Education [ca. 1970]
Recommendations of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health
5. Research and Development [ca. 1970]

Box 41

Recommendations of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health
6. Supplementation and Fortification [ca. 1970]
Recommendations of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health
Regulation and Disclosure of Food Content and Composition [ca. 1970]
Recommendations of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health
8. Health Services
Recommendations of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health
9. Manpower [ca. 1970]
Recommendations of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health
10. Food Production and Marketing [ca. 1970]
Recommendations of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health
11. Delivery Systems (not in 2) [ca. 1970]
Recommendations of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health
12. Other Community Programs [ca. 1970]
Miscellaneous – Letters of Recommendation and Requests for Publication of W.H.C. on Food, Nutrition and Health [Nov. 1969 – Jan. 1970] [1 of 4]
Miscellaneous – Letters of Recommendation and Requests for Publication of W.H.C. on Food, Nutrition and Health [Nov. 1969 – Jan. 1970] [2 of 4]
Miscellaneous – Letters of Recommendation and Requests for Publication of W.H.C. on Food, Nutrition and Health [Nov. 1969 – Jan. 1970] [3 of 4]
Miscellaneous – Letters of Recommendation and Requests for Publication of W.H.C. on Food, Nutrition and Health [Nov. 1969 – Jan. 1970] [4 of 4]